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Don't try this at home! Tom Pidcock shows off his mind-blowing descending skills; Video emerges of Dan Walker being hit by driver, but MailOnline claims "rear wheel caught car's front wing"; Who's the best descender in pro cycling? + more on the live blog

It's Wednesday and Dan Alexander is here to take you through the middle of the week on the live blog...
Wed, Feb 22, 2023 09:05
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Don't try this at home! Tom Pidcock shows off his mind-blowing descending skills; Video emerges of Dan Walker being hit by driver, but MailOnline claims "rear wheel caught car's front wing"; Who's the best descender in pro cycling? + more on the live blogTom Pidcock descending (SAFA Brian/YouTube)
22 February 2023, 08:54
Could you keep up? Tom Pidcock shows off his mind-blowing descending skills

No. No we couldn't keep up... even if Jamie has hit 100km/h downhill, taking these Los Angeles twists and turns at 60km/h plus is a completely different game entirely.

The peloton's king of descending (Matej Mohorič may disagree) Tom Pidcock met up with LA's own downhill hero SAFA Brian on his off-season trip, plummeting down Tuna Canyon. Spoiler alert: they make it down in one piece... thought you might want to know that in advance so you can uncover your eyes...

Those lads are quick...

80km/h and slightly less while bombing around tight bends... "That was a bit sketchy," Pidcock laughs at the end of the video... "We survived"... All the kudos in the world to the guy filming...

If ever there was an excuse to watch this again (for the 7,846th time)...

22 February 2023, 17:04
Motorists blame crash victim Dan Walker for not riding on underpass cycle lane – described by locals as "filled with broken glass"
Dan Walker (Twitter/Dan Walker)

> Motorists blame crash victim Dan Walker for not riding on underpass cycle lane – described by locals as "filled with broken glass"

22 February 2023, 16:16
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the best descender of them all?
Poll results 22 Feb 2023

 

22 February 2023, 16:15
22 February 2023, 15:53
Presca sportswear the latest British bike industry brand to close

It's a tough ol' time for bike brands isn't it...

Off the top of my head, in recent times, we've reported on Look mum no hands! closing, UK bike sales falling to the lowest level in 20 years, the closure of Specialized's inclusive women's cycle clothing brand Machines for Freedom, Milltag entering voluntary liquidation, Specialized slashing jobs, women's cycling clothing brand VeloVixen entering liquidation (but subsequently bought by Stolen Goat)... and that's just since the turn of the year...

22 February 2023, 15:30
New bike day
22 February 2023, 15:02
WorldTour banter
22 February 2023, 14:42
Reaction to "insane" Tom Pidcock descending footage

Plenty of love for Safa Brian with the camera too... 

Here's a decent vid of his fastest run on the Tuna Canyon descent...

I think we know who the king of descending is now. Mind blown.

22 February 2023, 13:03
When arm warmers fight back...
22 February 2023, 12:56
Einer Rubio wins stage three summit finish at UAE Tour

Jebel Jais is usually the UAE Tour of summit finishes — 90 per cent boredom followed by a short burst of fireworks near the end. In truth it's too easy for the pros, the shallow gradients and smooth road surface mean a large group reaches the top.

And again this year a large group did reach the top... the difference? Einer Rubio, the Colombian rider for Movistar's daring attack with 10km stuck and he took the victory. The gap reached a minute but the chase behind never had the necessary urgency to pull him back, meaning Remco and co. were left to sprint for second.

Remco did indeed win that sprint ahead of Adam Yates, the Belgian taking the race lead.

Right, back to the sprints until Sunday... 

22 February 2023, 12:20
22 February 2023, 11:54
Parcelshelfcameras

Two steps behind the comments as usual, you've all been discussing the Dan Walker footage and the Mail's coverage already. Anyway, the best thing to come from it, our favourite topic — pointless pedantry...

Live blog comments
Live blog comments
Live blog comments

 

22 February 2023, 11:19
Video emerges of Dan Walker being hit by driver, but MailOnline claims "rear wheel caught car's front wing"

We're back here again...

> Dan Walker "glad to be alive" after being hit by a driver while cycling

The Sun got hold of dashcam footage of the incident (available here) which has since been picked up by the Mail, whose online branch came to the conclusion it showed the presenter knocked down "when rear wheel of his bike caught car's front wing". A conclusion criticised on social media...

The driver whose dashcam captured the footage told The Sun: "It was quite shocking — certainly something you don't see every day. I checked the dashcam footage later and realised I had captured the moment.

"He's lucky to be alive. Had the car carried on he would have been crushed beneath it. It doesn't bear thinking about. I'm glad he's OK. He's such a lovely guy."

Anyway, back to MailOnline where unbelievably the top comments (yep, we know we really shouldn't bother) include...and have tens of thousands of likes between them...

This is insane, who attempts to cycle round a four lane highway when there's a completely separate cycle way especially built right beside it? Honestly, some cyclists really do not help themselves.

Why didn't he use the cycle track and underpass to the left, specifically made for cyclists? 

Should be illegal to not use a cycle path when it is provided 

Will he come out and explain why he didn't use the cycle lane? 

Depressing indeed. 

22 February 2023, 10:17
Who's the best descender in pro cycling? (POLL)

Let me set the scene. It's March 18th, Milan-San Remo has quietly been meandering its way to the Med for the past six hours, but now the peloton is powering up the Poggio. Near the top and Mathieu van der Poel jumps, Wout van Aert firmly clamped on his wheel. Then, in a flash of Ineos branding Tom Pidcock darts past with Matej Mohorič, Peter Sagan riding his last San-Remo and Julian Alaphilippe in tow. Now that's something to get excited about...

> It wasn't just the dropper post: Matej Mohorič used "secret" wheel bearings and bigger disc rotors for Milan–San Remo win

We can't wait to see Pidcock take on the famous descent of the Poggio, the same slopes where last year Mohorič (and his dropper post) escaped to victory...

Which leaves me wondering who is the peloton's best descender? Alaphilippe's got credentials.. 

As does Sagan...

But who's the king of them all?

Poll Maker

22 February 2023, 09:49
Demon descending

You're probably alright for tips, Tom, but if you fancy, Jamie's got some for you...

22 February 2023, 09:25
Tom Pidcock being very good at riding a bicycle: A short history

Ah Tom Pidcock, you've done it again. And while I take a short break from watching that LA video on repeat all morning I thought I'd take a dip into the archives to create a live blog post in celebration of the young lad from Yorkshire's bike-riding brilliance...

And it turns out with someone as prolific as Pidcock you only have to go back a few days to find some gold...

Tom Pidcock showcases cyclocross skills during Volta ao Algarve time trial (GCN)

> Tom Pidcock showcases "absolutely mint" cyclocross skills – on time trial bike 

Fairly successful off-season then, Tom? Yeah, not bad just went to LA, filmed a video that broke the cycling internet, took Sa Calobra's KOM and raced a bit of 'cross...

Tom Pidcock Sa Calobra (Strava)

> Tom Pidcock smashes Sa Calobra KOM by nearly two minutes

2022 TdF stage 12 pidcock ineos Zac Williams/SWpix.com

[📷: Zac Williams/SWpix.com]

> How fast!? We take a look at Tom Pidcock's Alpe d'Huez-conquering Strava file

Pidcock cyclo-cross World Champs celebration (screenshot via GCN)

> History maker Tom Pidcock solos to rainbow jersey at cyclocross worlds

2021 tom pidcock gold medal team gb great britain mountain bike tokyo 2020 olympics

> Tom Pidcock wins Olympic mountain biking gold for Team GB in Tokyo

23 years old...

Dan Alexander

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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